Film Room: Offense vs. Temple

Quick Note: 10/3

There was a certain former player on Twitter who accused Andrew of plagiarizing his analysis from another site. After reviewing both the Andrew’s and the player’s separate analyses, I concluded that there is very little in common outside the fact that they both talk about two of the same plays, so to call it plagiarism it completely outrageous, and those allegations are completely false. - Ben

After years of running the ball as often as possible, the Jackets finally had a game where the run/pass ratio was a perfect 50/50. Tech also threw for more yards than the Owls, 174 yards passing for Tech to 127 yards passing for Temple. Unfortunately, two turnovers in the end-zone as well as one when the Jackets were driving torpedoed their chances for winning this game. The Jackets also struggled on third down, converting only 2 out of 14 chances. There were some interesting new wrinkles that the Jackets showed as well as some positive takeaways.

Run Game

The Jackets ran many of the same plays we have seen this season; Triple out of gun split, Inverted Veer, as well as some split zone. Overall they struggled with slipping the lineman off the double team and up to the linebacker level, a problem that Tech has had for a few years now. There are a lot of technique and assignment issues to clean up this week. There were a few new wrinkles that Tech showed.

Trap

The Jackets opened the game running a version of the trap play, a play we saw often in the past few seasons. The LT pass sets, the LG stutters then moves to the second level, while the RG comes across to block the DT who has possibly read the play as a pass, Tech used to run this play off the counter option look. Unfortunately a twist by the DE & DT muddy up the assignments and the pulling guard and LT miss on their blocks.

Sweep GC

It was interesting to see the Jackets run this play. It is an integral part of the Gus Malzhan offense and a take on the old Lombardi Green Bay Sweep. The TE and the LT block down, allowing the LG & C to pull around and try and get big guys blocking little guys, this can be called a pin and pull blocking scheme. Unfortunately, there is a bust somewhere when no one blocks the corner, usually the WR would crack block the Safety or a LB and one of the pullers blocks the corner. Great job by Graham carrying out his fake, he was able to freeze the backside player. I could see Tech working to clean this play up and would expect to see it again.

Pass Game

The Jackets struggled in pass protection this week. The tackles had an especially tough time blocking the edge rushers, this caused the QBs to get a bit skittish and escape the pocket early before completing their reads. The QBs also need to learn to look off their first read and not stare down their intended target.

Mesh-Wheel

My favorite route combination makes multiple appearances this week. Multiple times Tech had more success on the scramble than on the route, including the fumble by Oliver that was taken back for a touchdown.

Naked

Tech really tried a few ways to move the pocket and not force the OL to protect for a long time. One way of doing this is to run the naked off of split zone action. The play action flows to the left while the QB is rolling to the right. The WRs run crossing routes at different levels to create a high-low for the linebackers. Oliver is late on the throw and it is behind the WR.

Smash

Smash is a very common route combination where the outside receiver runs a hitch and the slot receiver runs a corner route, the read on the who the corner takes. The issue with this play is that the QB never looks off his intended target and stares him down.

Conclusion

You’re never excited for an offense when you are held scoreless in a game. A deeper look at the numbers shows that Tech did as much damage to themselves as the Temple defense did. If we can clean up the missed assignments and mistakes, I think this offense will continue to improve as the season moves along.